It's a secret no more! Well, it wasn't really a secret anyway, but today Deep Silver officially announced that production of the oft-rumoured Secret Files 3 is underway.

Besides being a new adventure for returning protagonists Nina and Max, very few details about the new game have been unveiled so far (okay, so maybe some things really are a secret), but the duo's third adventure is once more in the hands of Animation Arts, who also developed last year's Lost Horizon. This time around, a professional writing team from NEOS Film is being brought on board to pen the storyline.

There's plenty of time to learn more about the game, as Secret Files 3 isn't due until some time in 2012. In the meantime, keep an eye on the game's official website for more details.

What's summer without a new Nancy Drew adventure in another exotic locale? That's a question that doesn't need to be answered this year, as Her Interactive has just released The Captive Curse.

In her staggering 24th PC adventure, Nancy is off to Germany, but her trip to a remote Bavarian castle is no vacation. Legend tells of a "creature that marauded the area centuries ago, wreaking havoc and ultimately causing the death of a young woman before disappearing without a trace." Lately there have been sightings of just such a creature around the castle, and once again it's up to the teen detective to get to the root of the mystery.

For more details about the game, be sure view the recent trailer or check out the official website. There you can also purchase the game worldwide, either in boxed version or by download for both PC and Mac. The Captive Curse is also available now at major North American retailers.

For those who feared a lengthy wait for Memento Mori 2: Guardian of Immortality after its initial German-language release, breathe easier today, as Lace Mamba Global announced plans to release the game in the UK and Australia later this year.

In the sequel to 2009's art-themed thriller, original protagonists Lara and Max are now married, but their South African honeymoon is cut short by a new art robbery case. But in the process of chasing the thief in a high speed chase, Max is involved in a terrible car accident. With her husband presumed dead, though his body was never recovered, Lara returns to her Interpol office in Lyon. Her next case, however, results in a series of clues that suggest Max may be alive after all.

The sequel promises to offer three playable characters, taking players across the globe from Cape Town to France, Finland, all the way to Chinatown in San Francisco.

While no firms release date has yet been established, Memento Mori 2: Guardian of Immortality is currently scheduled to release some time in the fourth quarter of this year.

Montreal-based publisher Meridian4 plans to launch its first episodic series this fall with The Second Guest, the upcoming horror-mystery game by Twice Effect.

Set in 1920s London, the game casts players as a young student named Jack Ice, who is invited to Lord Averton's castle for a reading of the late noble's will. Not even knowing the man, Jack is initially hesitant and soon regrets not listening to his instinct when he learns Averton's death was not natural and that someone may be gunning for the would-be beneficiaries in attendance. Trapped in the castle by an untimely mudslide, Jack must get to the truth behind Averton's fate before he meets his own.

According to the publisher, The Second Guest will feature “both hair-raising situations and laugh-out-loud moments” using a familiar point-and-click interface and stylized 2D graphics inspired by films such as The Corpse Bride.

Five episodes of The Second Guest are planned in total, with the first one slated for Steam and other unnamed digital services this fall. The publisher has not released episode titles or prices at this time.

For lite adventure fans, it's time to put on your thinking cap and hiking boots, as Cateia Games has just released Tales from the Dragon Mountain: The Strix for download.

The new fantasy adventure from the developers of The Legend of Crystal Valley follows young Mina Lockheart as she returns to her family state after suffering horrible nightmares of her grandmother's home being engulfed by flames. Simply trying to "make peace with her own memories and feelings of loss and loneliness", what she encounters when she arrives is beyond her wildest dreams and sends her on a quest through the mystical woods and mountains of Pozoj to defeat an evil entity known as the Strix.

Tales from the Dragon Mountain: The Strix is currently available only for download on PC and Mac from participating download portals like Big Fish Games. The game is also expected to be launched on the iPad and iPhone in the coming months.

Note: Adventure Gamers is a Big Fish Games affiliate.

If you just felt a shiver rush down your spine, maybe it’s because Finnish developer Turmoil Games has now released the supernatural thriller Alpha Polaris for download via their online store.

Set at an American oil research base in the snowy plains of Greenland, Alpha Polaris tells the story of biologist Rune Knudsen and his fellow researchers on the eve of an ion storm outside their station and the bizarre events that follow, slowly eating away at the crew's sanity and turning their isolated station into a hub for some very strange occurrences.

Coinciding with the game’s release is a gameplay trailer that introduces the primary characters and offers a glimpse of the game’s eerie storyline and the unsettling events that unfold. If you like what you see, Alpha Polaris is available for immediate download for $19.95 or €19.95 (including VAT) from the developer's website, where a playable demo can also be found. A CD version is also available for an additional fee.

For more about Alpha Polaris, check out our review to get our take on this chilling horror adventure.

Seems like just yesterday we were first getting re-acquainted with Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and the time-travelling DeLorean. But with today's release of OUTATIME for PC and Mac, Telltale's five-part Back to the Future series is out of time itself.

The season finale picks right after the dramatic conclusion of the last episode, with Marty and an alternate 1986 version of Doc still back in 1931. Despite all attempts to restore it, the proper timeline is now in the most serious jeopardy yet, not due to outside influences, but from personal conflict instead.

In a very welcome blast from the past, the one and only Michael J. Fox is participating in the final episode, contributing his vocal support to a couple different roles. Though Telltale isn't revealing which parts he'll play, in a recent blog post, the company teased of one of the roles that "Marty has met this character shown in the new behind the scenes video (above) in the original film series."

OUTATIME is now available for download on PC and Mac directly from Telltale and participating download portals as part of the full-season purchase. The final episode will be also coming soon to the PlayStation Network and iPad.

Heard all the buzz about L.A. Noire and cursed the fact that it was exclusive to consoles? Well, gripe no more, as Rockstar has just announced that its highly acclaimed crime thriller will be ported to PC this fall.

Currently available only for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, L.A. Noire follows the career of Cole Phelps as he moves up the police ranks in a corrupt 1940s Los Angeles. Confronted by a number of cases based on real-world events, players must search for clues at a variety of grisly crime scenes and carefully interrogate suspects to expose lies in their testimonies. L.A. Noire is far from a traditional adventure, however, as there are also a number of gunfights and car chases along the way, though most of the action scenes can be skipped if so desired.

The PC port will be developed by Rockstar Leeds, and promises to include both keyboard and gamepad controls, graphical enhancements, and "3D support for an even greater sense of interaction and immersion within a painstakingly detailed 1940s Los Angeles."

No firm release date has yet been announced, but the game is due to arrive some time this fall. In the meantime, everyone who was ignoring the buzz until now had best get caught up by checking out our 5-star review.

If you've been trying to make sense of the first two surreal chapters in Kheops Studio's The Fall Trilogy, the answers are finally at hand, as Part 3: Revelation was released today for purchase and download.

In the two seemingly unrelated previous installments of this casual adventure series, players found themselves exploring an ancient temple and then navigating the offices and security systems of a hi-tech building as a secret agent. With no idea how you arrived at either place (or time) or why, your memory only gradually began returning in fragmented pieces, never fully coming together. So what new scenario awaits in the final chapter, and how does that tie into your identity? To answer that, you'll need to play Revelation for yourself.

Fortunately, you can do just that right here. Below is a playable demo taken from the start of the game. This time around, you awaken as a doctor in a Victorian-era home, where the lady of the house has left you a letter urgently requesting that you save her husband. To begin playing, simply click the demo box below. (Please allow some time for the game to initially load.) To play in full screen, click the icon above the demo box (to exit out of full screen, hit Alt + Enter).

For now, the only way to purchase Revelation is through Kheops' own webstore, though the game is due to arrive soon at Big Fish Games at other digital download portals.

Among the bevy of games news and previews at E3 this week, Focus Home Interactive revealed the second trailer for The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Testament of Sherlock, the sixth title from Frogwares to feature the famed detective.

Testament involves a murder wherein Holmes himself becomes the primary suspect. Unable to clear his name, he finds his world unraveling as the city of London and its inhabitants slowly turn on him. Both Focus and Frogwares have kept a tight lid on details about the game, which was first teased in a trailer released around this time last year.

The new trailer doesn't get into any story points, but it does show off characters and locations as well as the game's impressive art direction and lighting. It ends on quite an ominous image, setting up what we can reasonably assume is the fate at least one person wishes for our dear Mister Holmes.

On tap for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Testament of Sherlock is expected out later this year.

Fans of Murder in the Abbey can sing "Hallelujah!" today, as Spanish developer Alcachofa Soft has announced production on a new adventure for Brother Leonardo in The Mystery of the Wicked Village.

While a completely standalone adventure, the new game once again garbs players in the robes of "detective monk" Leonardo de Toledo. This time around he's investigating the disappearance of his Order's prior when he's forced to seek shelter from a storm in a seemingly quiet little town. He soon learns that looks can be deceiving, however, as there are supernatural forces at work and "the Devil’s presence can overshadow even the most unlikely of places."

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The Mystery of the Wicked Village will be presented in the same third-person, hand-painted style as its predecessor, as seen in the first screenshots. Not content to settle for more of the same, however, the developer is promising "artistic, technical and gameplaying enhancements" this time around, along with a more diverse setting to explore.

While no firm timeframe has been established, according to Alcachofa Soft the game is still some time off, with release likely falling some time next year. When we asked about publishing, the developers replied that not only is a downloadable version planned, they are committed to a Collector's Edition DVD as well, either self-published or in partnership with international distributors.

Adventure games -- or puzzle games with light adventure elements, at least -- continue to be well-represented on Nintendo's handhelds, as two new trailers out of E3 will attest. One of them is for Konami's 3DS offering Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights. The better news is that the second is for the previously unannounced Professor Layton and the Last Specter.

[game=]Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights[/game]

This isn't the first we've seen of unorthodox archaeologist Jean-Pierre Lautrec in advance of his debut adventure, but the new trailer highlights more of the sights, sounds, and huge array of puzzles in 19th century Paris. Lautrec and his assistant Sophie are continually in search of "living treasures" beneath the city, and after stumbling upon an old, mysterious map, now the pair begin a hunt for the riches of Loius XIV.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter

A new Professor Layton mystery is always big news for adventure gamers, though it was only quietly unveiled at E3 with the first batch of screenshots and a video teaser. Although the fourth game in the series to be localized into English, Professor Layton and the Last Specter is actual a prequel to the previous games. No details have yet been revealed about the plot of the new game, but the trailer features some intriguing glimpses of the troubles facing the top-hatted puzzle-solver and a very young assistant Luke.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off today, which can only mean one thing: games, games, and more games, plus new trailers to match. The first adventures videos to debut this year are for Centauri Production's Memento Mori 2 and Ubisoft's Nintendo 3DS puzzler, James Noir's Hollywood Crimes.

Memento Mori 2

With the first screenshots unveiled for Guardians of Immortality just a few weeks ago, now a short teaser offers a further glimpse into the sequel to 2009's supernatural art-themed thriller. In the new game, returning protagonists Max and Lara are married, but their honeymoon is short-lived -- literally. Called in to investigate a recent art theft in Cape Town, South Africa, tragedy soon impacts the couple when Max is involved in a high-speed car accident. Max's body is never recovered but he is presumed dead, leaving a grieving Lara to return to Interpol headquarters in Lyon. Her next case, however, keeps turning up clues that hint that her husband may still be alive after all.

We've yet to the see the first adventure released on Nintendo's new 3DS handheld, but at least one is getting closer to reality. Ubisoft today released a trailer for James Noir's Hollywood Crimes, a puzzle-intensive crime thriller set in 1961. Players assume the role of an expert puzzle-solver invited to participate in a popular TV game show. But a killer is now hunting down former contestants, and the FBI needs your help to find him. Alternating between the game show and real-world investigation, there are 150 different puzzles and 40 minigames offered up, taking particular advantage of the unique 3DS technology.

After a lengthy period of high anticipation, it's finally time to get started on A New Beginning, as Lace Mamba Global has released the game today in the UK.

A New Beginning itself begins with the end of the world as we know it, and we have only ourselves to blame. With environmental disaster ready to wipe out the last remaining human survivors in the year 2500, the only hope is to travel back in time to stave off the crisis before it's too late. After one failed time jump, it's finally left to a young woman named Fay to convince a cynical old scientist that his algae-based alternative fuel source is the key to the planet's survival. But even then, will the pair be able to overcome the greed, doubt, and apathy of a world that would rather just maintain the status quo?

The game is available today at all major UK retailers, and includes a soundtrack CD and a double-sided poster. For full details on A New Beginning, be sure to check out our four-star review.